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NASFA was founded in Huntsville circa 1980 partly as a result of local fans meeting at a one-time convention named MidSouthCon, held in Huntsville that year. (This convention is not directly related to the annual convention of the same name in Memphis, Tennessee.) Club members quickly came up with the idea of starting their own science fiction convention. The first of these was a mini one-day con named ZerCon, in November 1981. While planning and executing ZerCon, the club came up with the name "Con*Stellation" (or "Con†Stellation") for a planned ongoing series of longer (three-day) conventions.<ref name="sfc41"/>

The first Con†Stellation was held July 16–18, 1982, under the full name Con†Stellation I: The Pleiades. The time of year varied over the first few conventions, though at least one has been held each year since. In 1983-1984, the convention made the shift from a spring/summer convention to a fall convention. To aid the transition, a two-day mini-convention was held in December of 1983, thus avoiding an extremely long gap between Con†Stellation II and Con†Stellation III. Because the convention had already started using Roman numerals for numbering the series, the mini-convention was numbered as Con†Stellation II.V, a deliberate, tongue-in-cheek, mix of Roman numerals and place notation from Arabic numerals.<ref name="sfc41"/>

Each Con†Stellation has been subtitled with an astronomical constellation—usually one of the 88 official modern constellations, though the first one was named after a group of stars in Taurus. The convention often uses the constellation as a theme in its advertising and for events at the convention.<ref name="sfc41"/>

The Haldeman brothers were chosen as the closest thing we could get to twins (Gemini). Freas was unable to attend.

2.5

II.V

Ursa Minor

10-11 December 1983

Sheraton (University Drive)

Mike Kennedy, Nelda Kennedy

None

2-day "relaxicon" to break up the long span between Con†Stellations II and III as the convention shifted from spring (1983) to fall (1984). As the convention was already locked into using Roman numerals to number the cons, the nonsense numbering II.V (mixing Roman and Arabic (place) notation in a tongue-in-cheek fashion).